Fran McGarry of Acme Comics & Collectibles in Sioux City, Iowa saw the suggestion by Jerry Ringi of Amazing Fantasy Comics that Diamond move to a system of getting books to retailers before an established street date (see 'Jerry Ringi of Amazing Fantasy Comics on Street Dates'), and feels that would be a mistake:

I agree in a perfect world the idea of street dates would be a great idea, however this is not a perfect world.  I know for a fact that if street dates would be put in place there are stores out there that would not honor them.

Case in point: Free Comic Book Day.  You might ask how this ties into street dates, but we are in a town where we make a big production out of FCBD.  There is another store in town that gives out the books to the customers as soon as the book comes in and doesn't wait for the actual day.  Now since these books aren't supposed to be sold it doesn't make it worthwhile to pursue the issue but what happens if this starts happening on a weekly basis, do we become penalized because we follow the rules while our competitor doesn't?

Also just as a side note I worked in the video industry before joining the comic field and street dates do not work in that industry or the toy industry!  Case in point, Wal-Mart continually breaks street date (Star Wars toys, Marvel Legend toys, LOTR DVDs and the list goes on).  While it is true they are fined for breaking dates, that doesn't compare with the reputation they have gained for having everything first so customers will go to them first.

Anyway, I personally hope that street dates never occur because competition is hard enough when the playing field is level without adding another way for rules to be broken.

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